While I was in
California last month preparing
for the Star Wars Half Marathon,
the runDisney addict inside of
me started to regret not signing
up for the Princess Half
Marathon which will take place
this weekend at Walt Disney
World. With the help from my
friend Alex, we began to do some
research on how to find two bibs
so the two of us could run the
Princess Half together.

We found a site
that sells bibs given to them by
Disney, but unfortunately they
were all sold out so we
continued to do some research to
obtain our goal. Alex soon
discovered a charity that had
two bibs left for the Glass
Slipper Challenge (the 10K on
Saturday followed by the half
marathon on Sunday). We
contacted the people, but
unfortunately they had given
away their final two bibs about
an hour before we contacted
them. All hope seemed lost.

I contacted my
amazing sponsor, Judi, and asked
her if she knew of any other way
I could run. She usually runs
for Noah's Light Foundation, but
at that point, all of their race
bibs were given away, so I began
to just accept the fact that I
would not be running the
Princess Half Marathon this
year.

Then one day
while at the park, I received a
notification on Facebook saying
I had been tagged in a post by
Judi. Sure enough, Noah's Light
Foundation had received one more
bib for the Glass Slipper
Challenge! I contacted them
immediately and they explained
to me the entire process of
running for a charity. The most
daunting task was realizing I
would need to raise $2,000, but
being the constant optimist that
I am, I figured it was still a
possible goal. I filled out all
the paperwork, and on Friday,
January 30th, my fundraising
page was up and running.

When I first
signed up, I wanted to run a
race that I had never run before
and earn a medal that I didn't
have, however, sometimes life
throws a few twist and turns at
you to keep life interesting.
What started out as a chance to
run a race has become something
so much more.

I've always
believed in the goodness of
people, but over the past 19
days (I can't believe it's only
been 19 days) I have watched so
many people open up their hearts
and pocketbooks to help me
obtain my goal of raising the
money. The goodness of people is
even stronger than I ever could
have believed.

Now I personally
have always loved children and I
have also always hated cancer
(especially after losing loved
ones to it) so going with a
charity that is looking for a
way to end childhood brain
cancer is just the perfect fit
for me, but I never realized how
many others would associate with
it as well.

I've had the
donations from people who can
see how much it means to me and
give me the smile and wish me a
good run, and then I've had the
people who have talked to me
about the donations with tears
in their eyes. One of my
friends, who worries a lot about
money, donated with no
hesitation and with tears in
their eyes pointed out that if
their nephew ever had cancer
they would hope someone in the
world was donating money to help
find a cure for them.

It was at that
moment I realized that I signed
up for this in hopes of running
one marathon, but little did I
know the true race I was
running. The goal of raising
$2,000 was no longer a way to
meet my pledge, but a way to
reach something much greater.
Over the past 19 days I have
been given the amazing
opportunity not to just raise
money to put an end to a
terrible disease, but to watch
the human spirit unfold in
random acts of kindness. While I
am extremely excited for the
races I will be running this
weekend, this whole experience
has made me even more excited
for the race I have been running
for the past few weeks. The
giving back won't end at the end
of my fundraising efforts. This
is just the beginning.

If you would
like to help me reach my pledge
of $2,000, you can click the
picture below. Remember, no
donation is too small. Thank
you!